Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington says the resources will be there to invest in the team once they start showing they can win.
That a was part of the answer he gave while talking to Cook & Joe on Friday afternoon when asked about when the Pirates will spend more money.
Asked directly why the Pirates don't spend more, Cherington said that he believes the fans, most importantly want a winning team.
"I trust our fans that it's not going to matter as much about you know what the size of the payroll, what's going to matter is are we winning, it's a team I can get behind and support and be proud of," said Cherington.
"The biggest single impact on the size of the payroll is the economic structure, it's not anything else but that and our job is to build a winner in a way that works in Pittsburgh just as happened in other city's not too different from us," added Cherington.
But Joe Starkey told Cherington that the fastest way to have a winning team is to spend money, pointing out the San Diego Padres and their over $204 million payroll.
Cherington says that when it comes to the Padres he doesn't know the situation in San Diego since he's not on the inside.
"Certainly they've taken a path and maybe 10-years-ago would 've been unexpected and they're maybe taking advantage of a moment in time where the NFL is going and they're sort of the only game in town and we'll see how that goes," said Cherington.
He adds that the way to get it to work in Pittsburgh is to do it the best way for them and that they don't want one winning season, but to "get to winning as fast as we can and then sustain it over time."
Cherington adds they will be able to get there if they just "keep doing our jobs really well to get there as fast as we can."
